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22. Principles of Accepting and Obeying the Man Used by the Holy Spirit

22. Principles of Accepting and Obeying the Man Used by the Holy Spirit

22. Principles of Accepting and Obeying the Man Used by the Holy Spirit

1. In the work and affairs of the church, there must be total acquiescence to the man used by the Holy Spirit. This is the administrative arrangement of God.

2. You must accept and obey the leadership, watering, and shepherding of the man used by the Holy Spirit, and perform your duty in strict accordance with work arrangements; only then will you be after God’s own heart.

3. Acknowledging that the leadership of the man used by the Holy Spirit is the path by which the Holy Spirit works and guides God’s chosen people and is the way to entry onto the right track of belief in God.

4. You absolutely cannot worship and look up to the man used by the Holy Spirit and allow him to take the place of God in your heart. In your belief in God, you must only magnify God and obey God’s administrative arrangements.

Relevant Words of God:

7. In work and matters of the church, apart from obeying God, in everything you should follow the instructions of the man who is used by the Holy Spirit. Even the slightest infraction is unacceptable. You must be absolute in your compliance, and must not analyze right or wrong; what’s right or wrong has nothing to do with you. You must only concern yourself with total obedience.

from “The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of Kingdom” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

You shall not pass judgment on the work of the practical God. You shall not oppose the man who is testified to by God. … You should be moderate in speech, and your words and actions must follow the arrangements of the man testified to by God. … Externally, you shall not do anything that manifestly opposes the man who is testified to by God. This, and more, is what each person should adhere to.

… No one may stand in the place of the man testified to by God; in your words, actions, and inmost thoughts, you stand in the position of man. This is to be abided by, it is the responsibility of man, it is alterable by no one, and doing so would violate the administrative decrees. It should be remembered by all.

from “The Commandments of the New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

In their work, workers must pay attention to two points: One is to do the work exactly according to the principles stipulated by the work arrangements. Workers must not violate these principles, not work according to their own imaginations, and not according to their own will. They should show concern for the work of God’s family, and put the interests of the family of God first in everything they do. The other point is also key, and that is, in everything they do, to pay attention to following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and to do everything strictly in keeping with the word of God. … It is these two main principles to abide by while at work: One is to perform the work exactly according to the arrangements from the above, and to perform tasks with the principles that have been set forth by the above. The other point is to follow guidance from the Holy Spirit within. Once these two points are grasped, work is very unlikely to miss its mark.

from “The Main Principles of How Workers Work” in Records of Christ’s Talks

No one is capable of living independently except for those who are given special direction and guidance by the Holy Spirit, for they require the ministry and shepherding of those who are used by God. Thus, in each age God raises up different people who rush and busy about shepherding the churches for the sake of His work. Which is to say, God’s work must be done through those whom He looks favorably upon and approves of; the Holy Spirit must use the part within them that is worthy of use in order to work, and they are made fit for use by God through being made perfect by the Holy Spirit. Because man’s ability to understand is too lacking, he must be shepherded by those who are used by God….

The work carried out by the one who is used by God is in order to cooperate with the work of Christ or the Holy Spirit. This man is raised up by God among man, he is there to lead all of God’s chosen ones, and he is also raised up by God in order to do the work of human cooperation. With someone such as this, who is able to do the work of human cooperation, more of God’s requirements toward man and the work that the Holy Spirit must do among man can be achieved through him. Another way of putting it is like this: God’s aim in using this man is so that all those who follow God can better understand God’s will, and can attain more of God’s requirements. Because people are incapable of directly understanding God’s words or God’s will, God has raised someone up who is used to carry out such work. This person who is used by God can also be described as a medium by which God guides people, as the “translator” who communicates between God and people. Thus, such a man is unlike any of those who work in God’s household or who are His apostles. Like them, he can be said to be someone who serves God, yet in the substance of his work and the background of his use by God he differs greatly from the other workers and apostles. In terms of the substance of his work and the background of his use, the man who is used by God is raised up by Him, he is prepared by God for God’s work, and he cooperates in the work of God Himself. No person could ever stand in for his work, it is human cooperation that is integral to the divine work. … He who is used by God, on the other hand, is someone who has been prepared by God, and who possesses a certain caliber, and has humanity. He has been prepared and made perfect in advance by the Holy Spirit, and is completely led by the Holy Spirit, and, particularly when it comes to his work, he is directed and commanded by the Holy Spirit—as a result of which there is no deviation on the path of leading God’s chosen ones, for God surely takes responsibility for His own work, and God does His own work at all times.

from “Concerning God’s Use of Man” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

8. People who believe in God should obey God and worship Him. You should not exalt or look up to any person; you ought not to give first place to God, second place to the people you look up to, and third place to yourself. No person should hold a place in your heart, and you should not consider people—particularly those you venerate—to be on a par with God, to be His equal. This is intolerable to God.

from “The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of Kingdom” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

No one who lives in the flesh can directly represent God unless he is a man used by the Holy Spirit. However, even such a person’s disposition and what he lives out cannot be said to completely represent God; it can only be said that what he lives out is governed by the Holy Spirit. The disposition of such a man cannot represent God.

… for the substance of man is unlike that of God. Man can never live out God, much less become God. What man lives out as governed by the Holy Spirit is only in accordance with what God asks of man.

from “Corrupt Man Cannot Represent God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Man’s Fellowship:

Because the man used by the Holy Spirit is employed by the Holy Spirit to guide God’s chosen ones in entering the reality of the truth, the work arrangements issued by the man used by the Holy Spirit and the message that he preaches represent the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit—and, in this, they must be obeyed by God’s chosen ones. God’s words say that the arrangements from the man used by the Holy Spirit must be obeyed; they must be obeyed absolutely, and the rightness or wrongness of these arrangements has nothing to do with you. The implication of this is that you should not heed whether they are right or wrong, or whether or not they are compatible with your conceptions. You should do whatever he asks, you should carry out whatever he requires, and in this you will be right. What this means is that you must obey this man, and must do as he says. … Would you say I care about whether you listen to what I say and obey me? Will I be happy if you do so? What do I care about? Whether you can obey God. Obedience to God can be either abstract or real, and practicing in a way that is real, and true is extremely pertinent to this. This man is used by the Holy Spirit, he is saved, and made perfect by God. By rights, he does not represent God, he is a creature of God, but here God says that you must be especially obedient to him and not defy him in the slightest. If this had no connection to obeying God, then there would be no point in God saying it. What is the meaning here? When He asks you to obey this man, God uses this to reveal whether or not you are able to obey Him. Everyone who is able to obey the work arrangements, preachings, and communions of the man used by the Holy Spirit is truly obedient to God. If you resist and push against the man used by the Holy Spirit, if you pit yourself against him, and do not obey him, then you are not someone who obeys God. There are those, perhaps, who are not convinced. And what do they say? “Obedience to God is obedience to God, and obedience to people is obedience to people. Obeying the man used by the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with obeying God.” There are undoubtedly those who think in this way—there are many who do not understand spiritual things and oppose the truth. Let me tell you a fact: During the Age of Law, God used Moses to do the work of the Age of Law. Was Moses not a creature of God, was he not one of those who were corrupt? Moses hadn’t experienced being made perfect by God; he was one of those who were corrupt. But when people ridiculed Moses, and opposed him and passed judgment on him, did God permit this? He did not—and so, ultimately, those who opposed and passed judgment on Moses were annihilated. This is fact, yes? And what is seen from this? When there are people who oppose the man used by God to work, we should come to know God’s disposition and understand His will from how God views them and behaves toward them. The work of the man used by the Holy Spirit is arranged by God, and he is used by God. As a result, his work and his guidance by the Holy Spirit represents God, and if you oppose his work and what comes from God, then you oppose God. It is completely correct to say this.

from “What Are the Most Important Things That People Should Possess if They Are to Achieve Salvation Through Experiencing God’s Work” in Fellowship and Preaching About Life Entry (VII)

To be a leader serving God you must have principles. … Secondly, never try to find tricks or rely on your own ideas. Follow the arrangements of the above strictly. If you are truly earnest in your work and want to achieve results you must spend a lot of time and energy on each work arrangement and devote the maximum effort.

from Records of Christ’s Talks

According to God’s words, how should we behave toward the man used by the Holy Spirit? The correct method of practice is acceptance and obedience: acceptance of the leadership and shepherding of the man used by the Holy Spirit, and obedience to all of his work arrangements, preachings, and communions. He is our brother, he is used by God, and we need only respect him. This is the most correct method of practice. Because he is the man who is testified to by God, we must do as he says and obey him, but regardless of what God calls him, or what position and title He gives him, one thing is for certain: People will always be people, and even those who are made perfect by God will always be people, and not God. We must not treat the man who is testified to and made perfect by God, as God. We must only treat him as a brother, and a good person. We respect him and obey his work arrangements—this is completely acceptable, and in accordance with God’s will—but we must not worship him, much less can we treat him as God. Treating him as God is opposing God, it is violating God’s will, it is worshiping man. God is a jealous God, He is a righteous and holy God, and if we treat man as God, this is a serious violation of God’s administrative decree, it is an offense against God’s disposition, and will surely be met with God’s wrath and curses.